Toy musical instrument



April 24, 1962 J. u. c. RYAN ETAL 3,030,843

TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed March 13, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 JAMES U.G.RVAN 8 JOHN m RYAN,

22' -l IN V EN TORS. ME N HERZ/G a JEssuP, BY ATTORNEYS.

April 1962 J. u. c. RYAN ETAL TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 5 SheetsSheet 2 Filed March 13, 1959 JOHN :4: RYAN,

IN VE N TORS. HERZ/G & JESSUP,

April 1962 .1. u. c. RYAN ETAL 3,030,843

TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed March 13, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 I v 7 u. 3

JAME'SLLGRYAIV 8 JOHN m RYAN,

IN VEN TORS- HERZ/G a JESSUP,

ATTORNEYS- BY Z April 24, 1962 J.-U. c. RYAN ETAL 3,030,843

TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed March 13, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 |42 MD 7 I f D 46'" JAMES ucwmlv 4 JOHN M Rm/v, I I JNVENTORS. I HERZ/G a JESSUP, I By ATTORNEYS.

April 1962 J. u. c. RYAN ETAL 3,030,843

TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed March 1:5. 1959 s Sheets-Sheet 5 JAMES uanmlv a JOHN w. RYAN,

INVENTORS.

HERZ/G 8 JESS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,030,843 TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT James U. C. Ryan, 542 Almas Ave., Pacific Palisades, Calif., and John W. Ryan, 11027 Cashmere St., Bel Aire, Calif.

Filed Mar. 13, 1959, Ser. No. 799,321 3 Claims. (Cl. 84-170) This invention relates to a musical instrument and more particularly to a toy guitar having a sound box and strings simulating a guitar and optionally playable as one, in a normal manner, in which a discrete musical soundproducing means is disposed and manually actuatable in a reciprocal motion simulating strumming by an actuator means juxtaposed in the proximity of the strings and extending inwardly of the sound box to actuate the musical sound-producing means.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved toy musical instrument which has an outer appearance resembling that of an actual instrument, such as a guitar or the like, which, in addition to the conventional means of producing musical sounds, i.e., strings tautly and adjustably secured to a sound box, is provided with discrete musical sound-producing means, within the sound box, manually actuatable in a manner simulating conventional motions for producing sounds from the conventional sound-producing means to produce a melody from the discrete musical sound-producing means, whereby children or adults who have no knowledge of how to play the instrument in a normal manner may nevertheless produce a melody therefrom.

It is a further object of this invention to produce a predetermined melody on the discrete musical sound-producing means, while simulating plucking or other such movements normally associated with playing the instrument in a conventional manner, in which the melody may be continually and repeatedly produced by a removably supported programming device, yet in which a different melody may be produced by removal of the programming device and replacement thereof with a programming device capable of producing a different pre-selected melody.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved musical instrument of the character described in which the discrete musical sound-producing means closely simulates the sound produced by conventional playing of the instrument.

Another object of this invention is to provide a musical instrument in which the programming device is capable of being accurately and economically manufactured and readily and quickly insertable and removable from the instrument for producing a desired predetermined melody.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a musical instrument having a discrete musical sound-producing mechanism which does not interfere with the conventional method of playing the instrument and in which the actuating means thereof is unobtrusive yet practically positioned and available for instant use.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved musical instrument which is economical to manufacture and capable of mass production.

It is moreover among the objects of this invention to provide improvements over prior art devices and methods intended to accomplish generally similar purposes.

These and other objects of this invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description, drawings and appended claims.

In the drawings:

- FIG. 1 is a-top plan view, in elevation, of a musical instrument designed and constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view, in elevation, thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view, with parts broken away for greater clarity;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view, as taken substantially along a line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view as taken substantially along a line 55 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view, as taken substantially along a line 6-6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 77 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged, vertical, cross-sectional taken substantially along a line 88 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged, vertical, cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 99 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view, in elevation, with parts of the instrument illustrated in exploded relationship;

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 9, illustrating a modification thereof;

FIG. 12 is a view similar to FIG. 9, illustrating a further modification; and

FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating programming means of the invention in greater detail.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is shown, by way of illustration but not of limitation, a musical instrument generally referred to by the numeral 10, designed and constructed in accordance with this invention, generally simulating a guitar having a hollow housing or sound box 11 having a substantially conventional configuration, as best seen in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 10. The sound box 11 comprises an enlarged portion 12 and an integral, or otherwise secured, neck portion 13 enclosed at its top by a cover or top wall 14 cemented or otherwise secured thereto.

Conventional musical sound-producing means generally referred to by the numeral 16 is preferably disposed on the outer surface of the instrument 10 and includes a plurality of strings 17 secured at one end thereof to a bridge device 18 mounted on the cover 14 and tunably secured at their other ends to peg means 19 whereby the strings 17 may be tuned and played by strumming in a normal manner. In the instant example of a guitar, the cover 14 is preferably provided with a plurality of transverse ridges or frets 21 to assist playing of the instrument in a normal manner.

In normal use, the instrument 10 may be played by placing the fingers of one hand in a desired position on the neck portion 13 of the instrument to bias one or more strings into contact with selective frets 21 to produce varying tones from the strings 17 when plucked by a finger of the other hand or by a pick (not shown) held by the fingers of the other hand.

This invention provides a second and discrete musical sound-producing means, generally referred to by the numeral 22, residing within the sound box 11, and having a reciprocable actuator means 23 extending outwardly and in the proximity of the strings 17. The actuator 23 is actuatable by the hand normally used to pluck the strings 17 and has secured thereto a hand piece 24, generally simulating the aforementioned pick used to produce sounds from the strings 17.

In general, the second sound-producing means 22 com-. prises a musical comb means 26 secured Within the sound box 11 and having a plurality of musical tone elements 27 extending therefrom, each element 27 being capable of producing a predetermined musical tone or tones when plucked or vibrated by a plucking or programming means. The plucking means comprises a plurality of posts or protrusions 28 formed integrally with or secured to a disc 29 rotatably and removably supported within the sound box adjacent the'musical comb means 26. The disc 29 is rotated unidirectionally as indicated by the arrow 31 to intermittently progress selective protrusions view desired melody. v V V JI'he'tones .of the-tone element 27 may comprise notes 28 thereon into contact with selective'tone elements 27 of the musical comb to pluck or snap the element and produce a tone therefrom by a disc advancement or stepping means generally referred to by the numeral 3 2. The disc advancement means comprises ratchet teeth means 33 on the disc 29 operatively associated with a pawl 34 rotatably mounted adjacent thereto, the pawl means 34 being rotated by manual reciprocal manipulation of the actuator 23 to intermittently rotate and advance the disc 29.

To rotatably and removably support the disc 29, the sound box 11 is provided with an opening 35 slightly larger than the disc 29, extending through a bottom wall 36 of the sound box 11. An annular flange 37 surrounds the opening 35 and extends inwardly of the enlarged portion 12 of the sound box 11. A plurality of inwardlyextending resilient fingers 38, integral with or secured to the flange 37, are provided in the flange 37 to support the portion of the periphery 39 of the disc 29. The fingers 38 are deformable, outwardly of the opening 35, whereby the disc 29 may be inserted through the opening 35 and inwardly of the sound box 11 until the periphery 39 snaps over the fingers 38 to be supported thereon between the fingers 38 and inwardly extending extensions 41 of the flange 37, the extensions forming a shoulder 42.

The disc 29 is additionally supported on the under side thereof at a portion of the periphery opposite the fingers 38 by a generally U-shaped slide member 43 having an enlarged looped end 44. The slide element 43 extends through openings 46 (see FIGS. 3, 4 and provided in a transverse bearing member 47 of the neck portion 13 and includes enlarged extremities 48 residing in the neck portion 13 for limiting sliding movement of the slide member 43 inwardly of the opening 35 and opening 46 of the flange 37. The slide member 43 is manually slideable along thelongitudinal axis of the instrument 10 to bring the enlarged end 44 beneath the disc 29 for support of the disc, and is extensible outwardly of the opening 35 to retract the element 43 into the neck portion 13, as indicated by the broken lines 43 in FIG. 3 and the enlarged portion 44 into the position indicated in'the broken lines 44' of FIG. 4, whereby the enlarged head clears the periphery 39 of the disc 29 for facilitating removal and replacement of the disc. The enlarged head 44 is preferably arcuate in configuration, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 10, and complementary to the outer periphery 39 of the disc 29 and the inner surfaceof the flange 37 to fit against the annular flange 37 when the element 43 is withdrawn from engagement with the disc 29. r

The disc 29 is provided with an opening 49 for engagement with a depending pivot pin 51 supported within the sound box 11, as by a spider 52, to provide a bearing on which the disc 29 rotates. As best seen in FIGS. 3, 8 and 9, the posts or protrusions 28 extend lateral-1y from the disc 29 and are predeterminedly radially and circumferentially spaced to engage selective tone elements 27 of the musical comb, when the disc 29 is rotated, to play a predetermined melody. Only an exemplary plurality of protrusions 28 is illustrated in the drawings; it is to be understood that any desired number may be provided to produce a desired melody.

Eachelement 27 is provided with a hooked end 53, as best seen in FIGS. 8 and 9, extending downwardly and directed into the path of a protrusion 28 whereby, as a protrusion 28 revolves around the pivot pin 51 when the disc 29 is rotated, it engages an end 53 of an element 27 to snap the element 27 and thereby cause vibration of theelement 27 to produce the tone. The elements 27 are of a predetermined length, supported in the base 25 of the musical comb, orv optionally, of varying thicknesses or widths pre-tuned in pre-selected tones to produce the of one octave of a conventional scale or a combination of notes common to a number of tunes whereby various tunes may be played or produced from the musical comb by varying arrangements of the protrusions 28 on a disc like 29. By this means, a disc 29 having a desired programmed pattern of protrusions 28 maybe inserted through the opening 35 and supported on the fingers 38 and supporting element 43 for rotation on the bearing pin 51 to produce a predetermined melody on the musical comb 26 by engagement of predetermined protrusions 28 with selective tone elements 27.

A plurality of discs 29, each having a diifering pattern of protrusions 28 to engage the tone elements 27 of the musical comb 26, may be produced to replace the original disc 29 and thereby produce differing melodies. It is to be understood that an unlimited plurality of patterns may be produced on discrete discs 29', as desired. The protrusions 28 may be integrally formed with the disc 29, as seen in FIG. 9, to provide a predetermined and unchangcable pattern or protrusions 28 may be optionally separately formed and permanently secured to disc 29' as seen in FIG. 11. The protrusions may likewise be separately formed and non-permanently secured in selected apertures 30 of a perforated disc 29" illustrated in FIG. 12, whereby the pattern of protrusions 28" may be re-arranged if desired to change the melody produced on the comb 26. 7

As best seen in FIGS. 3, 4 and 7, the pawl means 34 of the disc-advancing means 32 is disposed on a bushing member 54 having a depending cylindrical boss portion 56 rotatably disposed in-a bearing 57 integral with or secured to the bottom wall 36 of the sound box 11. The bushing 54 includes another depending boss 58 spaced from the boss 56 and in engagement with an aperture 59 of the pawl 34, whereby rotation of the bushing 54 is transmitted into a pivotal rotation of the pawl 34. Pawl 34 has a flanged opening 34" by which it is mounted on boss 56, spaced from the end of bearing 57 by washers 57.

The pawl means 34 of the disc-advancement means 32 is provided with an angularly bent resilient finger 6'1 overlying the ratchet teeth means 33 of the disc means 29, the ratchet teeth 33 being of a predetermined length along the periphery of the disc means 29 whereby rotation of the pawl means 34 in one direction is imparted through the finger 61 and ratchet teeth 33 to the disc 29.

Rotationof the pawl 34 in an opposite direction disengages the finger 61 from the ratchet teeth '33, the disc 29 being held from rotation in an opposite direction, due to friction of the finger 61 on the ratchet teeth 33-, by a resilient stop finger or detent 62 secured to the sound box 11 adjacent the disc 29. As best seen in FIG. 7,

the resilient finger 62 is bent downwardly to engage shoul-. V

ders 63 formed by the ratchet teeth of the disc 29, the

detent 62 riding over sloping upward surfaces 64 of the teeth 33 by atorque spring 66 having one end 67 abutting an extension 41 of the 'fiange 37, or any other convenient immovable portion of the sound box 11, and an other end 68 in abutment with the boss 58. The finger 61 rides over the sloped surface 64 of a tooth and is positioned adjacent the shoulder 63 of an adjacent tooth to engage the tooth shoulder thereof .during subsequent movement of the pawl 34 As previously mentioned, an actuator 23 is operatively connected to the pawl means 34 to impart reciprocal rotational movement to the'pawl. The actuator 23 comprises a rod having one end 71 extending intoa sleeve 72 frici-t' tionally secured in the bushing 54 and a horizontal por-' tion. 7 3 residing, for a portion thereof, within a channel 74 formed in the bushing 54 and extending outwardly of the'box 11 through an elongatedopening 76 .of the en- 9 larged portion 12 of the sound box 11. "The actuator ex-: 7 V

tends upwardly and above the top wall 14 of the sound box and terminates in the proximity of the strings 17, the upper end 77 thereof being provided with the picksimulating finger piece 24. Reciprocal rotational movement of the actuator is limited by a pair of spaced stops 78 and 79 within the sound box portion 12, the stops preferably being made of a sound deadening material such as felt, rubber, neoprene or the like.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the actuator 23 is limited to predetermined arcuate movement between the stops 78 and 79 from a position shown in the solid lines to a position shown in broken lines 23. Such arcuate movement is predeterminedly set to rotate the pawl 34 sufliciently to advance the disc 29 the peripheral length of one of the ratchet teeth 33 and thereby bring selective protrusions 28 into plucking engagement with selective tone elements 27 of the musical comb 26. The torque spring 66 causes the pawl 34 to return to its normal position shown in solid lines in FIG. 3 and to return the actuator 23 to the position shown in solid lines when manual pressure is released from the pick 24. Subsequent downward plucking motion of the hand against the pick 24, transversely of the strings 17, causes the actuator to again move to the broken line position 23 to cause a repeated rotation of the pawl 34 and an intermittent rotation of the disc 29 to successively advance protrusions 28 into contact with elements 27, thus producing a melody on the musical comb. By this means, the melody is produced only by successive downward strokes of the actuator means, in a very realistic manner simulating an actual strumming action.

The musical comb means 26 is preferably tautly secured on the top 14 as by rivets 81 to use the top 14 as a sounding board, the sound produced being amplified by the hollow interior of the sound box 11.

An important feature embodied in this invention is that of providing a musical device which plays a single note or combination of notes such as a chord, each time the picksimulating actuator 23 is operated. Production of successive notes is accomplished by discrete successive operations of the actuator 23. The programming device, disc 29, provides only the selection of the note or notes struck in each successive discrete interval. In the past, musical timing or rhythm in the form of varying spacing between notes has been incorporated in the music-box record itself and intermittent actuation of the mechanism has not been restricted to one note or combination of notes sounded per stroke, but instead, such devices have produced several successive notes with each actuation thereof, sounding with pre-esta-blished and often different rhythm intervals between the individual discrete sounds so produced.

The operation and effect of the invention described herein is novel inasmuch as the disc 29 does not determine the rhythm or timing of the musical rendition. The structure of the device, and the design and layout of the plucking means of the record are such as to make it possible for the operator of the device to create the rhythm or timing of the musical rendition independently of any pre-arranged mechanically-established rhythm. The operator strums the actuating pick 24 in accord with his personally-established rhythm, in the same manner as when actually playing the tune on a standard musical instrument, and the music produced by the unit is controlled by this rhythm. Selection of the successive notes to play, however, is determined automatically by disc 29 in the device. By this means, the more difficult part of playing a musical instrument, i.e., the selection of the proper notes in playing a tune, is handled automatically for the operator, while the pleasure, kinaesthe-tic sensation, appearance and satisfaction of actual rhythmic operation of a standard musical instrument are made available to the operator by leaving the establishment of the rhythm in his hands. This type of operation is of especial advantage when the device is used to supply umental accompaniment for singing and/or music by other instruments, where the manual coordination of the instrumental rhythm with the singing and/ or playing of an individual or a group is necessary or desirable, particularly where the notes of the same tune are repeated with variations in expression provided by moditications of the rhythm.

It is an important distinction of the sound-producing device 22 and the disc 29 employed in it, that there is a positive incremental drive to the disc, with all incrementsof drive motion being equal. These equal drive increments are established by the actuator-pawl arrangement and the ratchet teeth on the disc 29; no special touch or attention on the part of the player is necessary to obtain either equal-increment advance motions or the corresponding note-by-note operation.

The design of the disc, as best seen in FIG. 13, is unique in that the plucking posts 28 are laid out to disregard musical time intervals. The intervals between the locations of posts 28, to provide successive notes as the disc 29 is rotated, are equal. For each ratchet tooth there is a note or combination of notes, the latter all sounded simultaneously, produced at a point in the travel of the actuator 23 which is the same, within normal fabrication tolerances, at each successive operation or stroke of the actuator 23. In FIG. 13, it will be noted that radial distances between posts 28, indicated by the circumferential delineations 81, are equal and correspond to the spacing between the elements 27, while the circumferential spacing of posts 28, as indicated by the radial delineations 82, is equal to the angular spacing of the ratchet teeth 33, whereby one step of the disc 29 causes one post to pluck a tone element 27 or a preselected radially aligned group of posts 28 to simultaneously engage their respectively aligned tone elements 27.

This invention further features provision for positive yet quiet advancement of the ratchet, which is essential to satisfactory subjective results from the musical unit. Also, the configuration employed to provide interchangeability of the programming means, together with a satisfactory level of sound output from the instrument, results in a unique arrangement of the components, specially adapted to these ends. Many alternative arrangements of the disc support and means affording changeability of the discs attenuate the sound output from the sound box and case; the configuration shown is designed to minimize such attenuation by providing a structure minimizing both the effects and occurrence of damping elements.

While we have herein shown and described our invention in what we have conceived to be most practical and preferred embodiments, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of our invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein, but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and methods.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A musical stringed instrument toy to be manually strummed comprising a housing, a musical sound producing means in said housing, movable programming means mounted in said housing and operable to program musical sounds produced therefrom; advancement means for intermittently advancing said movable programming means in separate steps; and manually operable actuator means for said advancement means extending outwardly of and away from said housing for manually actuating said advancement means at the will of the operator, said manually operable actuator means comprising a single extending member mounted for reciprocating movement along an unobstructed path transverse to and adjacent the strings of said instrument whereby to be operated by back and forth strumming movement of an operators hand.

2. An instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said sound producing means comprises a disk shaped member, and a spindle adapted to be removably received in a center opening in the disk shaped member, the improvements comprising flexible means positioned to re- 5 leasably engage the outer face of the disk shaped member for holding it on the said spindle. V

3. An instrument as in claim 2, wherein said flexible means comprises a member selectively moveable to a position to slideably engage said outer face of said disc 10 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Eckstein Apr. 26, 1927 Patt n Apr- 24, 1 2 Machlin et a1. a Apr. 11, 1944- Goldma e 1951 Haricot Feb. 12, 1957 --t-'-r:'-.-r-- AP 21: FOREIGN PATENTS,

Great Britain May 28, 1958 

